Thanks for all those ideas. It would be easy if some people only changed their name once in my files, but in my own family we have alternated over the years between birth name and stepfather's surname, then I changed my name by deed poll. So I've been LANE / HUDSON / LANE-HUDSON, all before getting married and changing to SKEGG. I guess I've used the names that could be found in birth registrations and the latest surname for my files, any dates of name changes are strictly private events or notes, except for deed poll.
I was happy to put in the dates for name changes and got my first taste of WE DON'T WANT THAT IN THERE FOR ALL TO SEE from family members, even though it was all public knowledge. Same with a family member who was a child from an illegitimate relationship (public knowledge), the mother and daughter of that family got upset that I listed the father in my file because he wasn't on any birth certificate. I also am aware of parentage that differs from public knowledge, but I've chosen not to list these to avoid offending or outing skeletons from closets. To make things easier for others to re-do my research, I've listed birth and current names, each name change with an AKA, and made the dates of the changes private. I've also listed only those unmarried relationships that people haven't made objections to. Doesn't make things accurate, but makes things politically correct for my family members. One bonus that I especially like with Legacy, listing marital status, one of my siblings was deeply offended to see himself md to his ex-girlfriend in a chart from another program. I can at least list him as unmarried. Cheers Tracy Enter the drawing for a FREE Legacy Cruise to Alaska or a FREE research trip to Salt Lake's Family History Library. Open to users of Legacy 6 Deluxe. Enter online at http://legacyfamilytree.com/FreeTrip.asp Legacy User Group guidelines can be found at: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp
